{"id":4109,"date":"2012-10-31T15:27:55","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T15:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=4109"},"modified":"2021-03-08T18:23:34","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T18:23:34","slug":"michael-marra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/31\/michael-marra\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Marra"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Marra, the acclaimed Dundonian songwriter and singer died on October 23<sup>rd<\/sup>\u00a0in his home city. Here we publish Mary McGregor&#8217;s tribute from the forthcoming \u00a0issue of\u00a0<em>Emancipation &amp; Liberation<\/em>, being produced for the forthcoming Radical Independence Conference.<\/p>\n<p>This is followed by <em>Hermless,<\/em><span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_4109_1('footnote_plugin_reference_4109_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_4109_1('footnote_plugin_reference_4109_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_4109_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4109_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">For those less acquainted with the Dundee dialect \u2018hermless\u2019 is harmless.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_4109_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_4109_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>\u00a0Michael Marra\u2019s tongue-in-cheek submission for a Scottish national anthem.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4180\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4180\" style=\"width: 106px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4180\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/th-1113.jpeg\" width=\"106\" height=\"160\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4180\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Marra, acclaimed Dundonian songwriter and singer, 1952-2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>MICHAEL MARRA &#8211; A TRIBUTE<\/h2>\n<p>Every obituary and tribute to Michael Marra seems to begin with \u201cI met Michael in\u2026\u201d or \u201cI have known Michael since \u2026\u201d and when I sat down to write about him, I realised that that was how I too wanted to begin. Michael was weel kent and it must have been around 1976\/77 when I first met him playing with the Dundee band of truly talented musicians called Skeets Boliver. Since then, our lives and paths have crossed and weaved and no matter how many years passed since I saw him last, he always remembered me or at least had the good grace to pretend to. I always found him a kind and gentle man steeped in politics, culture and history.<\/p>\n<p>Michael was born in 1952 and brought up in Lochee. His passing is all too early. He was a socialist and a republican who had enough cynicism of mainstream politicians not to be fooled by any of them but enough humility to recognise that even mainstream politics is filled with people trying to make a difference. He could argue with the best of them but he was respectful and tolerant; listening as well as talking.<\/p>\n<p>He was a great supporter of the Palestinian cause and did benefit gigs for Tayside for Justice in Palestine and would turn up to photo calls to help us publicise the plight of the Palestinians. The Timex strike and other industrial disputes were also on<\/p>\n<p>Michael\u2019s agenda no matter how weel kent a face he became. He was a Dundee boy through and through and proud of his city\u2019s history of struggle.<\/p>\n<p>Michael was my favourite kind of intellectual; one who speaks unashamedly in a broad Dundee dialect and brings more clarity to the social problems of our time than a host of university professors with pan loafy accents. But he had no truck with inverted snobbery and valued education and reading and intellect. He valued it in the people he found around him; the working man and woman whose experiences he so clearly showed through his songs.<\/p>\n<p>What a prolific talent he was. From those early days with Skeets and songs like \u201cShithouse Door\u201d (any reference to this which you see as Streethouse Door is only to save some puritanical blushes) to a career in the theatre writing the music for <em>They Fairly Mak Ye Work<\/em> and <em>The Mill Lavvies<\/em>. He was a raconteur and a poet as well as a singer songwriter. His song, Freda Kahlo\u2019s visit to the Taybridge Bar is a beautiful surreal song, which sticks with me always as it is about icons only finding peace amongst ordinary people and the humanity that can be found amongst them. And that is what Michael was about \u2013 humanity. The way he mixes the everyday with universal themes of justice, love and loss is metaphysical in quality.<\/p>\n<p>Now that he has died, it feels like everyone is trying to claim a wee bit of Michael Marra such was the extent of his influence. But it is not only the rich, famous or the literati who can do this. Thousands of Dundonians who worked in mills and factories or drink in pubs or who argue about politics with their pals or who have loved and lost or who have felt the burning injustice of capitalism, we too can claim Michael because he was on our side. He was one of our own.<\/p>\n<h3>HERMLESS<\/h3>\n<blockquote><p>\nHermless, hermless<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s never nae bother frae me<br \/>\nAh go tae the library an&#8217; tak&#8217; oot a book<br \/>\nThen Ah come hame for ma tea<br \/>\nWi&#8217; ma hand on ma heart and ma heart in ma mooth<br \/>\nWith arms that could reach o&#8217;er the sea<br \/>\nMa feet might be big but the insects are safe<br \/>\nThey&#8217;ll never get stood on by me<\/p>\n<p>Hermless, hermless<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s never nae bother frae me<br \/>\nAh go tae the library an&#8217; tak&#8217; oot a book<br \/>\nThen Ah come hame for ma tea<br \/>\nAh save a&#8217; the coupons that comes wi&#8217; the soup<br \/>\nAnd when Ah have saved fifty-three<br \/>\nAh put three in the drawer and send fifty away<br \/>\nAnd something gets posted tae me<\/p>\n<p>Hermless, hermless<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s never nae bother frae me<br \/>\nAh go tae the library an&#8217; tak&#8217; oot a book<br \/>\nThen Ah come hame for ma tea<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s one or twa pals that Ah ca&#8217; my chums<br \/>\nThey&#8217;re canny and meek as can be<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s Tam wi&#8217; his car,<br \/>\nBig Ed wi&#8217; his stamps<br \/>\nAnd Big Lexie Gilmour and me<\/p>\n<p>Hermless, hermless<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s never nae bother frae me<br \/>\nI go tae the library an&#8217; tak&#8217; oot a book<br \/>\nThen I come hame for ma tea<\/p>\n<p>Hermless, hermless,<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s never nae bother frae me<br \/>\nNaeb&#8217;dy would notice if I wasnae there<br \/>\nAnd I didnae come hame for ma tea<\/p>\n<p>Hermless, hermless<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s never nae bother frae me<br \/>\nI dae what I&#8217;m telt and I tidy my room<br \/>\nThen I come doon for ma tea<\/p>\n<p>Hermless, hermless<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s never nae bother frae me<br \/>\nI jist hang aboot and inherit the earth<br \/>\nThen I come doon for ma tea\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(from <a href=\"http:\/\/mysongbook.de\/msb\/songs\/h\/hermless.html\">Hermless lyrics<\/a>)<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Also see Michael Marra&#8217;s \u00a0following two performances on Youtube:-<\/p>\n<p>Chain Up The Swings<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ntT37AZzx8Q\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If I were an Englishman<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yOwH9hmjNrM\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><h3><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_4109_1();\">References<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_4109_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_4109_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/h3><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_4109_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">References<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_4109_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_4109_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_4109_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">For those less acquainted with the Dundee dialect \u2018hermless\u2019 is harmless.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_4109_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_4109_1').show(); 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jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Marra, the acclaimed Dundonian songwriter and singer died on October 23rd\u00a0in his home city. Here we publish Mary McGregor&#8217;s tribute from the forthcoming \u00a0issue of\u00a0Emancipation &amp; Liberation, being produced for the forthcoming Radical Independence Conference. This is followed by Hermless,[1]For those less acquainted with the Dundee dialect \u2018hermless\u2019 is harmless.\u00a0Michael Marra\u2019s tongue-in-cheek submission for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1861,1863],"tags":[257],"class_list":["post-4109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alienation-self-determination","category-cultural-celebration","tag-author-mary-mcgregor"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":6826,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4109"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18340,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109\/revisions\/18340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}